Samuel Foster Haven was born in Dedham, Massachusetts on May 7th to Betsey and Samuel Haven (Wynar 236). He attended college at Harvard University. Although he received his first degree in 1928 at Amherst College. He was then admitted to the Bar in Middlesex County. He practiced law in Lowell, Massachusetts.
While practicing law Samuel worked on exacting aptitude for research. He weighed evidence related to local cases and preformed serious studies of early New England’s history, especially focusing on colonial charters and records. His work on the bicentennial of Dedham and afterward plus a variety of shorter articles were published in 1836 (Lossing 312). These articles were responsible for the publication of several other volumes of documents relevant to Colonial history.
Samuel Foster Haven is best know for his piece of work Archaeology of the United States (Wilson 118). It was published by the Smithsonian Institute in 1856. It consisted of historical and bibliographical essays on the subject. In 1831 Samuel Foster Haven Jr. was born. He was Samuels’ only son. Samuel Jr. soon lost his life while serving in the Civil War. He, like his father had a great interest in American History. He even compiled a catalog of American publications prior to the American Revolution. His work was included with his fathers in Isaiah Thomas’s History of Printing in America. It was added after Samuel edited and published a 2nd edition of it in 1874.
In April 1838, Samuel Haven became the Librarian of American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts. He held this position until death. Although Samuels’ position was that of just a secretary, he fulfilled many other positions. It seemed as though he was an executive secretary. At the Society he had may focuses. He was an antiquarian and archaeologist that collected the documents and artifacts of American civilization. He made these historical records available to the scholarly worlds. The most important being those of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He did not want to just collect the data of history, he felt the material of history needed to be carefully weighed and used to reconstruct the real relations in the past. By doing this he used a sound literary style. Haven participated in the first efforts to develop a native and scholarly historical profession. Although he did not write major works of this kind. He was content with giving lots of help to other scholars.
His work as a librarian enhanced his historical interests. The work he preformed was thorough and broad in extent. It was notable for its warm and generous spirit. He had a professional outlook that led him to the emergence of goals in the library profession. Samuel Foster Haven traveled widely on behalf of the Society. His strength dwindled throughout the years and he became weaker and weaker. He often had to battle sickness on his travels. In spite of his weakness Samuel Haven kept on working and died as an active librarian on September 5, at the age of 75 (Lossing 312).
Lossing, Benson John. Harper’s Encyclopaedia of United States History: From 458A.D. to 1915. Harper and Brothers Publishers, New York: 1974.
Wilson, James Grant. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Appleton and CO, Detroit: 1968.
Wynar, Bohdan. Dictionary of American Library Biography. Libraries Unlimited, Littleton: 1978.
Written by: Sara Halverson